


Beside the Falls

by idrilhadhafang



Series: Kyra Solo [4]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Ben Solo Needs A Hug, Ben is eighteen, Fluff, Foreshadowing, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Poe is twenty-one, Pre-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Protective Poe Dameron, Self-Esteem Issues, Shirtless Ben Solo, Shirtless Poe Dameron, Summer, Swimming, set in an AU verse but can be read as canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-27
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-09-28 08:29:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17179457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: Two young men, and a waterfall.





	Beside the Falls

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Summer Holiday(s)
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

  
The Yavin waterfalls were waiting for them even as Ben pulled away his tunic. It was summer, and one of the things they were doing for summer was going wading near the waterfalls. Ben couldn’t say he had done it with Poe before. It was a first, at least.   
  
Poe pulled off his shirt next, and...oh. This was the first time that Ben had seen him shirtless, actually. Smooth, bronzed skin, sculpted shoulders that weren’t broad but honestly, it didn’t matter. And maybe Poe wasn’t ridiculously ripped, but it didn’t matter; he was beautiful nonetheless. It was like his slight belly was just a tiny, endearing detail that Ben couldn’t help but love. Tiny but endearing. That summed it up. Poe stood, practically like a golden-skinned angel, and Ben suddenly felt very plain and gawky next to him with his pallid, freckled skin. Not that he wasn’t plain and gawky before, at eighteen.  
  
Stars, he was so glad that Poe couldn’t read minds.   
  
“Yeah, I know.” Poe shrugged. “I do need to get in shape — ”  
  
“You look fine,” Ben said. “Really really.”  
  
Poe smiled at him. “Well, thanks. I mean, I haven’t done this in a while. Good to be at the waterfalls again, really...”  
  
Ben smiled. “I love Yavin.” _And I love you. Dear stars, I love you._ If only he had the courage to say it out loud.   
  
Poe laughed. It was a sweet, joyous sound that Ben didn’t mind at all. “Yeah. Same here. So...you want in?”  
  
Ben grinned. “Completely!”  
  
They slipped into the water, and Ben yelped — the water wasn’t too deep, but Sithspit, it was _cold..._  
  
“You okay?” Poe said.   
  
“Coldcoldcold...”  
  
“You want out?” Poe said.   
  
Ben shook his head. “I’m okay,” he said. “Maybe once we get moving I’ll feel better.”  
  
Swimming to the waterfall was a bit of a challenge, Ben wasn’t going to deny that. It was still something seeing the waterfalls streaming down, iridescent, radiant. He grinned at Poe. “I love this place. It’s so beautiful.”  
  
Poe grinned. “Yeah. Back when Mom was alive, we’d have picnics at that place.”  
  
Ben nodded. “I wish I got to know her better.”  
  
“I think she’d like you.” Poe paused. “So how’s the Academy going?”  
  
Ben paused. He loved Yavin, but he couldn’t say he was happy with the Academy. But how was he even going to explain it to Poe? “You ever feel...like you’re not cut out for something?”  
  
“You think you’re not cut out to be a Jedi?”  
  
A dam broke. “I — I can’t do it,” Ben blurted out. “I’m not a good person — ”  
  
“You’re a great person, Ben.”  
  
“But I can’t control my anger...”  
  
“Yeah, well, the galaxy isn’t split into good people and Dark Siders,” Poe said.   
  
“Yes, but...”   
  
“You’re a funny, talented, wonderful person, Ben Solo. Don’t let anyone take that from you.”  
  
And there was something in Ben that found the words warming, comforting, more than the Light Side and the Jedi Code could ever be.   
  
“And you?” Ben said. “How’s the New Republic Navy?”  
  
They stayed that way for a while, near the waterfalls, and Ben knew that one day he would tell Poe the truth about how he loved him. Maybe not now. But one day.


End file.
